Art. Leadership. Christ.

YOU ARE THE LIGHT

What if the one thing the world is missing is the single unique thing you have to offer? Your heart. Your soul. Your passions. Your quirky smile. Your kindness. Your humor. Your courage. Your unwillingness to give up. Your desire to serve behind the scenes. Your creativity.

Your everything.

What if the world is missing you?

What if the world is thirsty for the beauty of God as He expresses Himself through you, and what if they can’t even identify that thirst?

Everything is holding us back from offering ourselves to the world, because it’s either too good to be true, or too difficult to believe. Or both.

We don’t have enough time.

We’re low on resources.

Our fears are too great to overcome.

And we just don’t really believe that anyone needs us. There are so many better people than us.

WE JUST DON’T REALLY BELIEVE.

And we bring all those doubts and misgivings about ourselves to Scripture, and we read something like this chunk of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:14-16), and then we’re screwed because Christ’s words don’t align with our beliefs about not really believing.

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Please understand who Jesus is speaking to here. He’s looking into the worn and wrinkled faces of broken and battered people who had Palestinian dust pressed into every crevice of their skin. They have no clout in any arena where clout or influence is required. They are one half-step above the bottom of the smelly caste barrel that society accepted as normal.

But as the master Rabbi teaches them, He’s making absurd comments about them.

About THEM.

And as the religious leaders look on from a distance, they cannot believe what they’re hearing. And I’ve always wondered if it was at this point when one of the key religious leaders looked at another key religious leaders and said, “We gotta get rid of this guy.”

Because this Guy is saying these things:

“YOU are the light of the world.”

And again, “Let YOUR light shine before people…”

And finally, “… so the world will see YOUR light…”

If they could afford a mirror, they’d look into it and see only darkness, if they had the courage to look into it at all. But not in the mind and heart of Jesus. Jesus always seems to see what no one else sees, and He has the uncanny ability to frame that vision into a truth that everyone must either love or hate.

JESUS ALWAYS SEEMS TO SEE WHAT NO ONE ELSE SEES, AND HE HAS THE UNCANNY ABILITY TO FRAME THAT VISION INTO A TRUTH THAT EVERYONE MUST EITHER LOVE OR HATE.

Can these words on this hillside really be true?

I get it – I get that we Christians are always very careful to give all the glory to God, and to say things like, “Oh. That wasn’t me. That was Jesus.” We really want for Jesus to be the light, and make no mistake about it. Jesus is the light.

But you are imprinted with that exact same Light.

So am I.

That doesn’t make us equal to Jesus or divine or anything like that. But in the mind of Jesus, broken people are also illuminating people, because the presence of Christ is not a respecter of persons.

PEOPLE WHO ARE WELL AWARE OF THEIR OWN BROKENNESS WILL SHINE THE BRIGHTEST LIGHT.

So it all comes down to each one of us. What if the world needs your light so they’ll be drawn to the truest ever Light-Giver? What if Jesus’ words to them are really the words of God to us?

That might just be enough to inspire us to live differently today. So go into your world.